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History Through Our Eyes: May 13, 1977, Roslyn Elementary School

Author of the article:

Montreal Gazette

Publishing date:

May 13, 2019 • 1 minute read

Dorothy Phelps, right, the first kindergarten teacher at Westmount's Roslyn School, celebrates with one of her former pupils, artist Freda Pemberton Smith, as the school marked its 70th anniversary yesterday with a day-long party. The ceremonies were opened by Westmount Mayor Don MacCallum. Photo by Tedd Church appeared in the May 13, 1977, edition of the Montreal Gazette.Photo by Tedd Church/ Montreal Gazette

On May 13, 1977, we published Tedd Church’s photo of Roslyn Elementary School’s first kindergarten teacher, Dorothy Phelps, right, being reunited with one of her former pupils, artist Freda Pemberton Smith. The occasion was the school’s celebration of its 70th anniversary. By then, Phelps had been absent from Roslyn for half a century. Pemberton Smith, born in 1902, would have been among the school’s earliest students.

The organizers of the 1977 event seem to have been jumping the gun, however. The school, at Westmount and Roslyn avenues, didn’t open until 1908.

Distroscale

But the laying of the cornerstone took place in 1907, and in our Oct. 14 edition that year, we reported on the “fairly large gathering” held two days earlier. John McKergow, chairman of the board of Protestant School Commissioners of Westmount, had the honour.

The school was to be built for about $100,000, plus another $35,000 spent for land and furnishings, our story said.

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“Before assuming this responsibility and heavy expense your commissioners gave the matter much thought and study, but the crowded and congested condition of our schools, and the evident need of a building on the upper levels, convinced us that we should move at once and secure a desirable site, and proceed with the erection of a school that would be a credit to the town, and conform to modern requirements,” said McKergow. He added that the school was to be fireproof. Such a reassurance would have been particularly welcome, as earlier that year, a fire at Hochelaga School in the east end had killed teacher Sarah Maxwell and 16 students.

Roslyn Elementary celebrated its centennial in 2008 and continues to flourish. Its most famous alumnus is probably Leonard Cohen.